Bookabach Reviews 

***UPDATE..it took almost 8 weeks but they have finally repaid the bond (refundable breakage deposit). ***
I also booked with Book a Bach and am awaiting my refundable deposit apparently put through on the 21st of March. It has now been 6 weeks and I have still not been paid. All their information says there is a delay of 3-4weeks. This is clearly incorrect and an outright lie. I would never use them again. They need to update their website to real time expected refund timeframes

I am also still waitng for a refund which was authorised by the property owned on 21 March
I am wondering how many more are waiting for refunds
All I get is emails promising payment in a few days .... and the phone people claiming to be from a different department but can see the complaint is being actioned..... but canno=t giver the fdirect contact details for those "looking into in issue"
If my refund is not received by monday I am goiing to the commerce commoission and the serious fraud office
How many more out there are still waiting

Our trip was cancelled and refund was initiated by the owner on 22nd March. Nearly 6 weeks later I am still waiting on the refund from Bookabach\Homeaway I have given 3 timeframes when this should have been completed, all of which have passed. Bookabach\Homeaway are now blaming the credit card company which is nonsense. Other organisations have managed refunds in a shorter period of time. I encourage all property owners to remove their properties from the bookabach website.

Stay away from Bookabach / HomeAway. I booked a cottage over Easter but had to cancel due to Covid 19. I cancelled on 23 March but still haven't received any refund, despite many emails. Every email from them has said something quite different as to the amount to be refunded and there seems to be no contact phone number. I asked the owner to help and while they acknowledged they received contact from her, they still haven't refunded a cent. She also said she hasn't received anything. AirBnB may be more pricey but they are way more transparent and refund pretty quickly if you have to cancel. I will never use Bookabach again.

Bookabach had confirmation of my cancellation with full refund on 18/03/2020, now they have told me that it will be the end of April before I am refunded. That is way too long. They are no longer processing bookings so surely they can process refunds in a more timely fashion. What's going on bookabach?

Bookabach website has probelms with booking interface and regardless of availability doesn't allow to complete booking. However payments are deducted. This could be minor technical issue , but their Customer Support is absolutely useless. Takes ages to get answers and usually those are generic sentences asking to address complaints to property owner. About Corona virus those guys didn't hear yet (despite their site announcement). So if you cancelled due to the virus risk, good luck getting your refund .
If you want to keep your holiday mood, better book with somebody else !

Their response to COVID-19 has been abysmal.
Now I have travellers complaining because their refunds are taking too long.
I really enjoyed their comment about my rating going down because I processed cancellations.
When this shut sandwich is over I am taking my property off their website.
Website was bl**Dy awful anyway

From what I see.... your reviews are about the new HomeAway x BookaBach website.
This company takes & holds your money, even before the owner or property manager receives your enquiry/booking request.
Even though your booking is not confirmed.

HomeAway only payout for your stay afterwards - so any criticisms re holding your payment (taken by them before your booking has been confirmed) really should be directed at HomeAway.
I hope this helps...

Yep. Totally agree with the negative reviews here. Properties show available until, after paying, they're not.
Stuffed us around twice in this manner. Left in the lurch trying to find somewhere to stay.
Airbnb is a ripoff, but there is transparency, accountability and ethics. Plus, you get to communicate direct with the owner prior to booking, so you know who you're dealing with.
As an Aussie, I like NZ, and have traveled here lots. But guess what Kiwis, not coming back. Leave you to your Chinese, billionaire Yanks and Euro backpackers

Cancelled and told us of a double booking just 6 business days out from our booking. Seven adults have booked holiday leave and booked pets in for a peak time. Refund will take 5 business days. I WON'T book here again or recommend!!

If you're thinking about booking a bach through Bookabach, don't! The owner can cancel at any time, and also keep the money you've already paid. Then it's up to YOU to chase Bookabach for a full refund.

Was disappointed that they take a bond of $500 on the day of your booking to only get it back 7 days after check out. This is ridiculous. Can't they take the bond on the day of check in? This is interest on my account that I'm loosing out of and their gaining interest. Also, we arrived at the house at 3pm, an hour after check in and I had to Google the number of the Company to get the key lock code. Thank goodness we didn't arrive at our destination after hours, as they (the owner and bookabach) couldn't be bothered to send me the code. I've emailed them twice asking for the address and the code and still had to call. Lucky managed to sign into my bookabach account after forgetting the password to see the address on the app. Our holiday could have been a disaster with no accommodation on arrival. Quick to take your money, but no service or communication on how to access or where to find the property.

We booked a bach for April 2020 in the Marlborough Sounds. We made the booking in August 2019 some 8 months prior to our intended ten day holiday. The calendar on bookabach showed the property was vacant. We put in a formal request for the property and the next day we received confirmation our application had been accepted. We paid a $500+ deposit with the alleged guarantee from bookabach giving us a false sense of security. A few days later the property owner contacted us and said the website had failed to apply Easter rates for 4 of the 10 day stay. The owner requested we pay the "shortfall" of $40 to her privately. This was on top of the $1700+ for the 10 days. We reluctantly paid the extra $40 to avoid any hassles. The owner advised us to contact her privately for any future bookings so bookabach fees can be avoided. Money is obviously extremely important to this owner. All four of us booked time off work and also booked and paid for the $700+ rail ferry crossing with our vehicle etc. A month after we paid the deposit the owner contacted us again and stated she was canceling our booking as she had double booked. She claimed to have accepted a booking privately from Australia for April 2020 back in January 2019 and had overlooked that. We didn't believe that for a moment. She had numerous opportunities to sight the alleged double booking at the time. I would also think someone booking your property 15 months ahead of time would be unusual and not something you'd forget in a hurry. We believe a valued customer who had stayed previously had made the booking with her privately in the weeks after our booking. Their booking attracts no bookabach fees and she didn't want to risk losing them long term by saying no so she threw us under the bus. The owner made a perfunctory attempt to book us in elsewhere but that property was unsuitable. We contacted bookabach about what had unfolded to seek their input. They were astonishingly useless. They informed us the property owner was permitted to cancel a booking at any time for any reason. Their guarantee is little more than a charade. Our much anticipated holiday was turned into a farcical nightmare by a greedy inept property owner and the utterly useless bookabach website.

These people are untrustworthy. They withdraw unfavorable reviews and thus mislead prospective renters. Buyer beware!!

Avoid using this company the home owners can just change their mind when ever they want even after a hold has been placed on your credit card, the home owners never respond to emails, it is a very poor system, they also have terrible customer service it is just a philipino call center and the staff lie to you and avoid answering questions or fixing problems. companies like this should not be allowed to operate.

We were looking forward to going on our holiday and it was the first time we had been out the country together as a family.
We arrived at the airport and we did not have any airport transfers waiting like the property manager said we would with a 5year old child after a 4 hour flight at 8:50pm.
After he finally arrived he proceeded to tell us that he has people staying in the the accommodation and Bookabach did not C'C him in on the CONFIRMED email for the dates we requested, we then had no accommodation and Bookabach think they have no responsibility at fixing this mess.
I must say your staff are very incompetent if thats all it would have taken for us to get our BOOKED accommodation.

Stay away from this
Awful customer service, the website has no responsibility for property owners at all. They decline your offer, change their mind, demand you to pay more than what was pointed on website and you as a renter have no rights at all. Lucky to have your money back, time and nerves wasted. Total disappointment :(

Booked 3 times, including credit card details and never got a confirmation, just a "pending" notification. Website impossible to find contact details.

I tried to book 2 places for Easter, one declined with no reason and the other never responded. We were booking a week out and it seemed like the owners were holding out for longer rentals which bookabach says is not allowed but seems to go on. I wasted hours looking for accommodation. Eventually I went to Airbnb and booked straight away.

Terrible customer service. I used to list a couple of properties on the site but when Expedia brought it they didn't care at all. Will never use again